ZE^IEIFOIE^TS 


OK  THE 


SPECIAL  COMMITTEE 


OF  TIIE 


AND  THE 

City  Civil  Engineer 

ON 

3 f a tt 5  anli  Stittfitp, 

FOR 

RE-SEWERING  THE  ENTIRE  CITY, 


cziT-ciisri\r.A.rr,i : 

JOHNSON,  STEPHENS  AND  MORGAN, 

No.  141  Main  Street,  below  Fourth. 

1862. 


£  4-^  Kj 


COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 
Cincinnati,  August  24th,  1862. 


The  following  Reports  were  presented  by  Mr.  Walker 
and  ordered  to  be  printed  in  pamphlet  form. 

GEO .  M.  CASEY, 

City  Clerk 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive  • 
in  2018  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


% 


https://archive.org/details/reportsofspecialOOunse 


OF 


At  a  meeting  of  the  City  Council,  held  on  Wednesday 
evening,  August  28,  1861,  Mr.  Weasner,  by  leave,  offered 
the  following  resolution: 

“ Resolved ,  that  there  be  a  Special  Committee  appointed 
to  act  with  the  City  Civil  Engineer,  to  inquire  into  the  pro¬ 
priety  of  employing  some  Civil  Engineer  of  known  ability 
to  make  plans  and  surveys  of  the  entire  City,  with  a  view 
of  re-sewering  the  City,  and  report  to  Council  at  an  early 
day,  believing  that  the  time  has  now  arrived  when  Council 
should  act  promptly  in  the  premises,”  which  was  read  and 
adopted.  Whereupon  the  Chair  announced  as  said  Com¬ 
mittee,  Messrs.  Weasner,  Walker  and  Stokes. 

Wednesday  Evening,  January  22,  1862. 

Reports  of  Special  Committees  being  now  in  order,  Mr. 
Walker,  from  the  Special  Committee  on  Sewerage,  pre¬ 
sented  the  following  report,  accompanied  by  two  resolu¬ 
tions,  which  were  adopted. 

To  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Cincinnati: — 

The  committee  appointed  by  order  of  a  resolution,  passed 
August  28th,  1861,  to  act  with  the  Civil  Engineer  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  plans  and  surveys  for  re-sewering  the 
entire  City,  have  performed  the  duties  assigned  them,  and 
now  submit  the  following  report : 

The  Committee,  in  order  to  arrive  at  proper  conclusions 


6 


as  to  the  best  mode  of  relieving  the  portions  of  the  city 
which  seems  to  be  doomed  to  almost  annual  overflows,  and 
to  devise  some  mode  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  have 
given  to  the  subject  their  careful  consideration,  and  have 
summed  up  their  views  in  as  concise  a  form  as  possible,  in 
order  to  prepare  the  minds  of  Council  for  acting  on  a  sub¬ 
ject  of  such  vast  importance  to  the  city.  At  no  time  in  our 
history  has  this  necessity  been  forced  upon  the  authorities 
more  urgently,  than  during  the  past  and  previous  summers. 
The  heavy  rains  in  August  last,  and  its  disasters,  are  fresh 
in  the  minds  of  Council,  when  property  to  the  amount  of  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  was  not  only  destroyed,  but 
valuable  lives  were  lost  in  attempting  to  save  from  destruc¬ 
tion  the  earnings  of  years  of  toil. 

Your  committee  hardly  deem  it  necessary  to  present  do 
this  body  a  topographical  view  of  the  plat  upon  which  the 
city  is  built,  but  in  order  to  make  themselves  better  under¬ 
stood,  will  simply  refer  to  some  of  its  features,  and  this  they 
do  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  to  Council  the  imperative 
necessity  that  exists  to  provide  against  the  repetition  of  such 
injuries  in  these  rapidly  improving  sections  of  our  city,  and 
which  can  no  longer  be  neglected  without  attaching  to  the 
city  authorities  culpability  for  which  no  excuse  can  be 
offered. 

The  committee,  in  the  first  place,  proceed  to  designate 
the  boundaries  to  be  drained  by  the  sewers  already  built, 
and  which  have  proved  themselves  inadequate  to  furnish 
an  outlet  to  carry  off  the  surface  water  in  heavy  storms,  for 
so  large  an  extent  of  territory.  They  first  commence  with 
that  in  the  valley  of  Deer  Creek,  the  area  drained  by  this 
sewer  is  included  in  the  following  boundaries,  commencing 
at  the  reservoir  of  the  water  works,  and  following  the  hill 


nearly  north  to  the  Observatory,  thence  following  the  ridge 
south  of  Deer  Creek  to  the  junction  of  the  Madison  and 
Montgomery  road,  thence  north  of  the  present  city  limits  on 
the  high  land  to  near  the  junction  of  the  corporation  line 
and  Mount  Auburn  road,  and  so  with  Mount  Auburn  ridge 
west  of  the  road  to  the  intersection  of  Burgoyne  and  Main 
streets,  and  thence  draining  the  surface  water  from  a  large 
portion  of  the  following  streets — Main,  Allison,  Walnut, 
Twelfth,  Race,  Vine,  Seventh,  Ninth,  Court,  Sycamore,  Pen¬ 
dleton,  Broadway,  Sixth,  Fifth,  Symmes,  Pike,  and  Butler, 
containing  not  less  than  1028  acres,  a  large  portion  of 
which  is  very  broken  and  consequently  discharges  storm 
water  from  its  surface  with  great  rapidity. 

The  next  portion  of  territory  which  your  committee  refer 
to,  is  that  drained  by  what  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Hamilton  Road,  Green  and  Hickey  streets  sewer,  the  area 
drained  through  this  channel  is  that  lying  west  of  Mount 
Auburn  and  south  of  the  corporation  line,  extending  west  to 
the  ridge  of  hills  overlooking  Mill  Creek  valley,  also  re¬ 
ceiving  a  large  portion  of  the  surface  water  from  the  follow¬ 
ing  streets — Liberty,  Freeman,  Dayton,  Linn,  Central 
Avenue,  Vine,  Race,  Fifteenth,  Hamilton  Road,  and  Clin¬ 
ton  streets,  the  area  included  in  this  boundary  being  over 
780  acres,  for  which  there  is  no  other  drainage  than  this 
sewer,  which  is  totally  inadequate,  even  if  constructed  upon 
the  most  scientific  principle.  The  almost  annual  overflow 
of  that  portion  of  the  city  drained  by  this  culvert,  owing  to 
its  want  of  capacity,  has  for  a  long  time  been  a  just  cause 
of  complaint,  and  a  fruitful  source  of  litigation  for  which 
the  city  has  had  to  pay  large  damages,  and  at  no  former 
season  has  the  injuries  and  destruction  to  property  been 
greater  than  from  the  rains  of  last  August.  A  careful  esti- 


# 


8 


mate  of  this  loss  has  placed  it  not  less  than  $200,000,  for 
which  it  is  supposed  the  city  can  not  be  held  liable,  but  yet 
the  loss  to  the  citizens  is  still  the  same.  In  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  Sycamore  and  Abigail  streets,  on  Race  from  Find¬ 
lay  to  Hamilton  Road,  on  Henry  from  Race  to  Dunlap,  and 
on  Green  from  Race  to  Elm,  the  houses  have  been  flooded, 
in  some  instances,  to  the  depth  of  several  feet,  injuring  and 
cracking  the  walls  and  causing  other  damages  to  an  extent 
for  which  there  is  no  estimate. 

Next  is  the  Betts  street  sewer,  the  area  drained  by  this 
is  over  211  acres,  then  the  Clearwater  street  sewer,  also 
draining  a  rapidly  improving  portion  of  the  city,  containing 
an  area  of  over  243  acres,  also  the  Catharine  street  sewer, 
which  drains  that  portion  of  the  city  lying  south  of  Twelfth 
and  north  of  Sixth,  and  from  Race  to  Mill  Creek,  containing 
an  area  of  over  280  acres. 

The  sewers  above  seem  to  have  been  constructed  in  or  as 
near  as  practicable  on  the  bed  of  the  ravines  that  have 
been  the  natural  outlets  for  draining  the  territory  referred 
to,  and  have  been  built  from  time  to  time  by  owners  of 
property  through  which  they  passed,  either  with  a  view  of 
recovering  the  ground,  or  for  covering  up  what  had  become 
a  nuisance  without  reference  to  any  intelligent  system  of 
engineering,  or  without  referring  to  the  fact,  that  as  improve¬ 
ments  progressed,  the  rapid  flow  of  water  into  these  chan¬ 
nels  would  be  largely  increased,  and  the  outlet  that  might 
have  been  regarded  as  sufficient  when  the  territory  was  in 
a  state  of  nature,  would  be  totally  inadequate  when  the 
same  territory  was  covered  over  with  buildings  and  well 
paved  streets.  * 

That  great  and  almost  irremediable  errors  should  have 
been  committed  in  the  construction  of  these  early  improve- 


9 


merits  should  not  surprise  us.  But  to  allow  these  to  be  con¬ 
tinued  after  the  evidence  furnished  during  the  past  ten 
years,  must,  in  the  concurrent  judgment  of  the  community, 
convict  those  holding  public  trusts  with  a  total  disregard  of 
private  as  well  as  municipal  interests. 

Such  your  committee  find  to  be  the  character  of  all  the 
sewers  of  early  construction  throughout  the  city.  They, 
therefore,  adopt  the  views  of  the  City  Engineer,  so  ably 
expressed  in  his  report  to  the  committee,  and  recommend 
that  sewers  be  constructed  with  capacity  sufficient  to  carry 
off  the  storm-water  from  the  localities  named  as  fast  as  it 
falls,  and  this  should  not  be  alone  to  meet  present  wants,  but 
also  adopted  for  future  necessities  growing  out  of  more 
extended  improvements.  The  Engineer  in  his  report  refer¬ 
red  to,  proposes  to  construct  two  main  sewers  with  laterals  to 
catch  the  water  before  it  accumulates,  one  on  Liberty  street 
from  Linn  to  Race  street  of  eight  feet  interior  diameter,  thence 
on  Race  to  Hamilton  Road  with  six  feet  interior  diameter, 
with  laterals  to  Green  and  Pleasant  streets,  connecting  with 
the  Hamilton  Road  and  Henry  street  sewer,  so  as  to  relieve 
that  sewer  where  it  passes  under  the  canal,  near  Proctor  & 
Gamble’s  factory.  The  estimated  cost  of  this  with  laterals, 
$53,000. 

The  other  sewer,  on  Sycamore  street,  to  be  constructed 
from  Abigail,  to  empty  into  the  canal  at  Broadway,  thence 
flowing  in  the  canal  to  the  Ohio  River,  with  laterals  on 
Abigail  to  Main,  and  also  on  Abigail  to  Franklin  street; 
the  construction  of  this  sewer,  as  proposed,  would  not  only 
relieve  Sycamore,  at  the  corner  of  Abigail,  from  overflow, 
but  also  relieve  the  Deer  Creek  sewer  from  all  the  water 
now  passing  into  it  through  this  channel.  The  estimated 

cost  of  this  improvement  is  placed  at  $27,000. 

2 


10 


Your  committee  now  come  to  the  last  improvement  for 
drainage,  suggested  in  the  report  of  the  Engineer,  aqd,  in 
their  opinion,  the  most  important  to  the  interests  of  the 
city,  in  its  consequence,  of  all — namely,  that  of  Deer 
Creek.  In  the  report  of  the  Engineer,  there  are  two  pro¬ 
jects  which,  though  differing  in  character,  yet  become  the 
same  in  their  result.  The  first  is  to  secure  to  the  city  that 
pgrtion  of  the  canal  from  Broadway  to  the  Ohio  River. 
This  portion  of  the  canal,  in  consequence  of  the  dilapidated 
condition  of  the  locks,  many  of  them  being  entirely  torn 
away,  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  used.  This  has  awakened 
the  attention  of  property  owners,  and  a  memorial  is  on  file, 
signed  by  nearly  every  owner  on  either  side,  asking  the 
authorities  to  secure  that  portion  of  the  canal  to  the  city. 
At  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  an  act  was  passed  to 
provide  for  leasing  the  public  works  of  the  State;  but  sec¬ 
tion  17  provides  that  nothing  in  this  act  should  preclude 
the  State  from  granting  permission  to  the  city  of  Cincin¬ 
nati  to  enter  upon  or  to  improve  as  a  public  highway,  or 
for  sewerage  purposes,  any  or  all  of  that  portion  of  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal  which  extends  from  the  east  side  of 
Broadway  to  the  Ohio  River.  Should  the  City  Council  avail 
itself  of  this  act  of  the  Legislature,  and  secure  this  portion 
of  the  public  work,  then  it  opens  up  the  way  whereby  the 
second  suggestion  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Engineer 
can  be  carried  out,  and  a  complete  system  of  sewerage  for 
the  entire  valley  of  Deer  Creek  be  adopted.  This  plan  being 
so  ably  treated  by  the  Engineer,  which  it  is  supposed  every 
member  of  Council  will  peruse  with  care,  that  your  com¬ 
mittee  content  themselves  by  simply  referring  to  it.  The 
estimated  cost  of  this  work  is  placed  at  near  $100,000. 

Your  committee  find  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Board 


/ 


11 

of  City  Improvements,  that  in  December,  of  1858,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  extract:  “The  Board  of  City  Improve¬ 
ments  respectfully  urge  upon  the  City  Council  to  take  im¬ 
mediate  measures  to  bring  about  valuable  improvements 
for  the  interest  of  the  city  in  the  valley  of  Deer  Creek.” 
They  state  further,  that  the  private  sewers  draining  this  por¬ 
tion  of  the  city  are  in  a  hazardous  condition,  and  from  re¬ 
cent  occurrences,  the  citizens  in  that  locality  are  reminded 
that  serious  damages  may  result  from  further  falling-in  of 
the  sewer,  which  has  proven  itself  of  so  imperfect  construc¬ 
tion.  Such  were  the  views  entertained  by  the  Board  of 
City  Improvements  at  the  period  referred  to.  The  reason 
why  the  attention  of  the  Board  was  particularly  directed  to 
the  condition  of  the  sewer  at  that  time,  arose  from  the  fact 
that  during  a  heavy  rain,  owing  to  its  faulty  condition  or 
some  other  cause,  stopping  the  flow  of  water,  it  burst  into 
the  canal,  near  or  at  the  Niles  Works,  causing  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  a  portion  of  their  buildings  and  doing  other  damage 
to  property  at  other  portions  of  the  sewer  to  a  large  amount, 
the  result  of  which  was,  that  the  Niles  Company  brought 
suit  against  the  City  for  over  $50,000  damages;  other  claims 
reaching  to  nearly  $500,000  awaited  the  result  of  this  suit. 
The  case,  however,  having  been  terminated  in  favor  of  the 
city,  consequently  no  other  action  was  ever  brought.  Dur¬ 
ing  heavy  rains  of  August,  21,  1861,  a  similar  occurrence 
took  place  near  the  canal  bridge,  at  Third  street,  nearly 
washing  across  the  street,  and  breaking  two  of  the  main 
water  pipes  that  supply  that  portion  of  the  city  lying  south 
of  Eighth  street  with  water.  The  cost  of  repairing  this  in¬ 
jury  will  not  be  less  than  $4,000.  Such  are  some  of  the 
dangers  to  which  property,  in  this  section  of  Deer  Creek 


12 


valley  is  exposed,  by  the  badly  constructed  and  dangerous 
condition  of  the  present  sewers. 

It  might  not  be  improper  for  the  committee  here  to  state, 
that  the  number  of  suits  now  pending  in  the  Courts  against 
the  city  for  damages  to  property  caused  by  the  overflows, 
claimed  to  be  on  account  of  the  incapacity  of  the  sewers, 
at  the  localities  named,  amount  to  the  sum  of  $62,000,  and 
that  a  much  larger  amount  is  yet  claimed,  and  abiding  the 
result  of  these  suits. 

The  committee  refrain  from  presenting  to  Council  the  great 
benefit  that  would  accrue  to  all  the  property  in  the  region 
of  Deer  Creek,  by  a  successful  carrying  out  and  speedy 
completion  of  the  improvements  referred  to,  and  more  par¬ 
ticularly  the  arching  over  of  that  portion  of  the  canal  lying 
between  Third  and  Front  streets,  thereby  opening  a  short 
and  direct  communication  for  the  large  and  increasing 
business  in  that  section  of  the  city,  to  the  Depot  of  the 
Little  Miami  Railroad,  and  the  River  landing.  This  they 
only  refer  to  as  incidental  to  the  improvement  named,  their 
primary  object,  (as  contained  in  the  resolution  appoint¬ 
ing  them,)  is  to  secure  to  this  region  a  system  of 
drainage,  sufficient  to  protect  the  citizens  against  future 
overflows,  and  the  city  from  vexatious  litigations  and 
heavy  damages,  which  might  be  fairly  charged  against  her 
for  neglecting  to  provide  against  these  constantly  accruing 
disasters. 

The  other  questions  presented  in  the  very  able  report  of 
the  Engineer,  in  reference  to  sewerage,  as  a  sanitary  provi¬ 
sion,  thereby  promoting  the  general  health  of  the  city,  is 
well  worthy  the  perusal  and  attention  of  every  citizen,  and 
we  feel  assured,  that  no  one  will  read  it  without  feeling  a 
desire  to  see  the  system  introduced  throughout  the  entire 


13 


city,  thereby  relieving  the  citizens  from  the  foul  and  im¬ 
pure  gasses  thrown  out  by  the  thousands  of  cess-pools  with¬ 
in  its  limits,  and  instead,  furnishing  pure  air  and  comfort, 
not  only  in  the  abode  of  the  rich,  but  in  the  more  uncom¬ 
fortable  dwellings  of  the  poor,  who  must  ever  rely  upon 
health  as  the  capital  upon  which  depends  the  support  of 
themselves  and  family. 

Urged  and  influenced  by  the  reasons  and  facts  set  fort 
as  above,  your  committee  are  unanimous  in  the  opinion 
that  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  City  Council  to  pro¬ 
vide  such  a  system  of  sewerage  for  the  districts  of  the  city 
that  are  subject  to  these  overflows,  as  will  in  the  future 
prevent  their  recurrence. 

They  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved ,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  to  visit 
Columbus,  during  the  sitting  of  the  present  Legislature,  to 
secure  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  City  of  Cincin¬ 
nati  to  issue  her  bonds  for  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  dollars,  which  bonds  are  to  be  used  for  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  such  sewers  as  may  be  necessary  to  protect  the 
property  of  our  citizens  from  overflow,  and  for  no  other  use. 

Resolved ,  That  said  committee  be  instructed  to  procure 
from  the  State  a  transfer  to  the  City  of  that  portion  of  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal  lying  between  the  east  side  of  Broad¬ 
way  and  the  Ohio  River,  on  such  terms  as  may  be  mutu¬ 
ally  agreed  upon,  in  accordance  with  an  act  passed  May 
8th,  1861. 

J.  H.  WALKER, 
SAM’L  STOKES,  Jr. 

T.  H.  WEASNER. 

The  Chair  then  announced,  as  said  Committee,  Messrs. 
Walker,  Schultz,  Stokes,  Doherty  and  Johnston. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Stokes,  Mr.  Thos.  J.  Peter,  City  Civil 
Engineer,  was  added  to  the  Committee. 


14 


The  following  is  the  statement  of  James  H.  Walker,  Esq.  : 

To  Wm.  J.  Shultz,  Esq. — Dear  Sir  :  To  enable  you  to  present  to  the 
Legislature  the  necessity  of  passing  a  law  to  enable  the  city  authorities  to 
provide  sewerage  for  certain  sections  of  the  city,  subject  to  overflow  during 
heavy  storms,  I  have  obtained  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Harper,  one  of 
the  Professors  of  the  Woodward  College,  the  following  meteorological  state¬ 
ment  of  the  rain  that  fell,  according  to  the  guage  kept  by  him  during  the 
years  1860  and  1861,  from  which  it  will  be  seen  how  insufficient  are  the 


provisions  to  carry  it  off  : 


January, 

February. 

March, 

April, 

May, 

June. 

July,  - 
August, 

September, 

October, 

November, 

December, 

Total, 


1860. 


1861. 


May  14— From  1  to  2  A. 
July  4— Commenced  2M 
July  20—  “  9 


M.„ 


11>* 


1.425  inches 

2,575  inches. 

.  1.56 

a 

1.805 

it 

0.41 

a 

2.008 

it 

-  5.315 

a 

3,875 

a 

3.68 

<( 

5.091 

tt 

-  1.055 

a 

3,802 

a 

7.965 

<1 

3.622 

•< 

-  0.915 

u 

7.010 

n 

4.335 

a 

2.939 

it 

-  1.275 

it 

3.774 

a 

3-083 

u 

3.617 

a 

-  1,085 

a 

1.095 

it 

33.081 

it 

42.194 

u 

3  OF 

1860 

# 

Inches. 

i  A.  M., 

nth, 

- 

1.96 

•  •* 

- 

- 

-  1.49 

A.  M.. 

• 

- 

2.09 

<< 

- 

- 

-  1.15 

HEAVY  RAIN'S  OF  1861. 

May  3— Heavy  storm  before  day, . *  .  1.69 

July  8— Commenced  10>*  A.  M.,  ended  12  M., . 1.26 

Aug.  9-  “  12  M„  “  8P.M . 2-10 

Aug.  21-  “  1>*  P,  M.,  “  33*  P.  M.,  ....  3.35 


OBSERVATIONS. 

A  larger  per  cent,  is  drained  off  in  heavy  rains  than  when  the  fall  is 
more  gradual,  the  beginning  and  ending  of  the  storm  is  given,  but  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  heaviest  rain  falls  in  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  time. 
The  rain  of  21st  August  last  is  the  heaviest  amount  that  ever  fell  at  this  point 
in  two  consecutive  hours.  The  amount,  according  to  the  above,  that  fell  on 
the  area  drained  by  the  Deer  Creek  sewers,  would  be  12,507,500  cubic  feet* 
and  on  the  territory  drained  through  Hickory,  Green  and  Hamilton  Road 
*ewers,  9,413,820  cubic  feet.  The  amount  in  the  same  ratio  for  the  other 
territory  named  in  the  report  to  Council.  Respectfully, 

J.  H.  WALKER. 


Messrs.  WEASNER,  WALKER  and  STOKES, 

Special  Committee  on  Sewerage , 

Gentlemen  : — 

In  consequence  of  the  additional  duties  devol¬ 
ving  upon  me,  by  the  absence  of  several  city  officials  in  the 
army,  I  have  been  unable  heretofore  to  devote  that  time  to  the 
matter  of  the  resolution  of  the  City  Council,  under  which 
you  were  appointed,  that  the  importance  of  the  subject  du- 
manded.  I  desire  before  proceeding  further,  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  following  extract  from  my  report  to  Chas. 
Rule,  Esq.,  “  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Sewerage  and 
Drainage,”  on  May  1st,  1857  : 

u  Previous  to  the  construction  of  any  sewer,  a  map  of 
the  city,  with  the  elevations  of  the  surface  represented  by 
figures  at  the  intersections  of  the  streets,  and  other  neces¬ 
sary  points,  should  have  been  made ;  the  main  lines  of  the 
sewers,  with  their  various  branches,  should  have  then  been 
devised,  with  a  congruent  proportion  in  the  forms  and  ca¬ 
pacities  of  a  graduated  system,  in  accordance  with  the  pro¬ 
gressive  increase  of  the  quantity  and  velocity  of  water 
flowing  into  them  from  their  sources  to  their  outfall.  As 
each  sewer  was  built,  its  location  should  have  been  marked 
upon  the  map,  accurate  notes  recorded  of  the  shape,  size 
inclination,  and  capacity,  area  of  surface  it  was  intended  to 
drain,  and  the  depth  of  the  bottom,  with  reference  to  the 


16 


standard  levels.  Without  such  a  map,  and  such  notes  for 
reference,  I  can  not  imagine  how  any  man  could  properly 
locate  a  single  sewer,  without  even  any  regard  to  its  con¬ 
struction  with  a  general  system. 

No  map  of  this  kind  has  been  heretofore  made,  and  not 
even  a  note  of  the  sewers  which  have  been  built,  has  been 
recorded.  To  obtain  their  location,  I  have  had  to  examine 
the  minutes  of  the  City  Council,  to  learn  where  and  when 
they  were  ordered ;  to  depend  upon  information  derived 
from  contractors  and  others,  and  to  trace,  by  actual  survey, 
each  one  from  its  outlet  to  its  source. 

Such  a  map  of  the  city,  with  the  surface  levels  taken  by 
different  persons,  I  am  now  draughting,  and  will  mark  on 
it  the  location  of  the  sewers  and  their  size,  but  such  a  map 
must  necessarily,  from  the  limited  means  of  information,  be 
deficient  in  accuracy. 

Besides  obtaining  the  size  and  location  of  the  sewers  pre¬ 
viously  constructed,  much  more  labor  has  been  expended 
on  this  map,  in  compiling  the  surface  elevations  from  the 
dusty  and  well-worn  records  of  the  office,  in  reducing  them 
to  the  standard  level,  in  carefully  testing  them  with  the 
instrument,  and  in  obtaining  the  levels  of  many  streets,  of 
which  no  record  had  been  made. 

Thus,  the  first  step — the  drudgery,  in  fact,  has  been  per¬ 
formed,  and  it  remains  to  devise  such  a  graduated  system 
of  sewerage  as  our  judgment  deems  best  adapted  to  secure 
the  wants  and  preserve  the  health  of  the  community. 

In  America  we  have  had  no  experience  in  this  matter, 
and  we  must  rely  entirely  upon  the  extended  experience 
which  the  most  renowned  European  Engineers  have  attained 
by  immense  expenditures  and  successive  improvements 
through  a  long  series  of  works.  Fortunately,  many  of 


17 


these  Engineers  have  published  the  results  of  their  obser¬ 
vations  and  experiments. 

I  have  garnered  my  information  from  every  available 
source,  discarding  all  plausible  theories  unless  tested  by 
fair  experiments,  or  supported  by  experienced  and  skillful 
Engineers.  I  have  placed  more  credence  in  the  evidence 
elicited  by  examinations  of  the  “  Metropolitan  Sanitary 
Commission,”  and  the  “  General  Board  of  Health  on  the 
supply  of  water  to  the  Metropolis,”  than  in  the  expression 
of  any  individual  opinion,  because  these  commissions  were 
composed  of  men  renowned  for  their  austere  probity,  their 
scientific  knowledge,  their  ripened  judgment,  and  their 
skillful  practice.  They  called  to  their  aid  the  best  talent  in 
the  country;  men  entertaining  diametrically  opposing 
theories,  whose  specious  fallacies,  erroneous  deductions,  or 
pride  of  opinion,  was  likely  to  be  discovered  by  the  inter¬ 
rogations  of  rival  talent,  or  the  discussions  of  the  Council 
Board. 

These  works  treating  of  the  dry  detail  of  the  profession, 
are  seldom  sought,  and  hence  are  rare,  but  as  there  is  no 
subject  on  which  public  opinion  differs  so  widely  from  the 
result  of  experiments,  and  nothing  which  is  of  more  inter¬ 
est  to  the  public,  I  have  made  copious  extracts  from  them; 
especially  to  combat  those  new  ideas  which  are  frequently 
broached  here,  and  which,  for  inherent  defects  in  practice, 
have  long  since  been  cast  aside  in  Europe.  Fortunately, 
no  City  in  the  Union  is  more  favorably  located  for  sewer¬ 
age  purposes  than  Cincinnati,  situated,  as  she  is,  on  the 
bank  of  a  river,  with  a  current  swift  enough  to  quickly 
bear  away  the  refuse,  and  at  such  an  altitude  that  the  sur¬ 
face  grades  have  sufficient  inclination  to  scour  the  sewers 
without  the  aid  of  artificial  flushing. 

o 

o 


18 


Your  Engineers  have  spent  many  hours  in  devising  a 
system  of  sewerage,  and  compiling  and  preparing  reports, 
which  have  usually  been  printed,  referred  to  a  Committee, 
and  there  allowed  to  slumber.  This  apparent  apathy  has 
been  produced  by  a  contrariety  of  opinion  as  to  the  use  of 
sewers. 

The  majority  of  the  City  Council  have,  for  many  years, 
held  that  sewers  should  be  constructed  simply  to  carry 
away  the  surplus  storm- water,  so  as  to  prevent  it  from 
damaging  property,  but  your  Engineers  have  been  uni¬ 
formly  of  the  opinion  that  by  so  doing,  the  chief  use  of 
sewers  was  entirely  ignored.  Originally,  sewers  were  nat¬ 
ural  water  courses,  walled  in,  when  the  growth  of  cities  de¬ 
manded  it,  but  after  a  time  physicians  and  other  scientific 

men  came  to  regard  them  as  a  great  sanitary  necessity, 

/ 

which,  by  quietly  and  effectually  draining  the  surrounding- 
earth,  and  purifying  the  atmosphere  by  the  immediate  and 
complete  removal  of  the  filth  and  refuse  from  the  houses, 
prevented  the  spread  of  febrile  diseases,  and  those  violent 
epidemics  against  which  no  measure  of  alleviation  can 
materially  avail,  and  which  almost  set  at  defiance  the  re¬ 
sources  of  medical  art. 

I  beg  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  the  following  ex¬ 
tracts,  which  conclusively  demonstrate  the  truth  of  these 
assertions : 

Messrs.  Cubitt  and  Brunell  say,  in  their  report,  that  “The 
oldest  sewers  in  towns  were  generally  substitutes  for  open 
ditches,  their  use  being  to  take  off  the  surface  water  ;  the 
night  soil  and  other  offensive  solid  matter  and  offal,  being 
at  that  time  swept  down  the  kennels,  or  removed  daily 
from  the  houses  in  carts. 

“This  was  the  practice,  not  many  years  since,  in  Edin- 


19 


burgh  and  many  other  large  towns,  and  is  still  the  case  in 
most  of  the  continental  cities,  including  Paris  and  Rome. 

“  The  fact  is,  that  this  metropolis  has  always  been  in 
advance  of,  and  has  taught  all  other  cities  lessons  in  sewer¬ 
age.  In  London,  the  open  and  daily  removal  we  have 
described,  was  early  superceded  by  cess-pools,  and  in  the 
better  houses,  a  drain  was  carried  from  the  kitchen  and 
offices  into  the  cess-pool;  but  it  must  not,  in  justice  to  the 
owners  and  occupiers  of  houses,  be  forgotten  that,  at  this 
period,  all  passage  of  night  soil  and  filth  from  the  cess¬ 
pools  to  the  sewer,  was  an  indictable  offense,  and  perhaps 
necessarily  so,  for  there  not  being  then  water  enough  to 
carry  the  soil  along  the  drain,  the  latter  would  have  been 
liable  to  be  choked,  and  would  have  caused  the  cess-pool 
to  overflow ;  nor  would  any  moderate  inclination  have 
kept  the  sewer  clean,  if  the  soil  had  been  allowed  to  pass 
into  it.  Under  the  then  existing  circumstances,  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  Commissioners  of  Sewers,  or  of  the  other 
authorities,  to  enforce  these  regulations,  and  to  oblige  cess¬ 
pools  to  be  made  and  periodically  emptied  by  nightmen, 
so  that  the  drains  and  sewers  might  not  be  choked.  A 
great  revolution  has  been  since  effected. 

u  At  the  present  time,  every  house  not  under  the  middle 
class,  has  its  water  closet,  and  it  is  now  considered  the  duty 
of  the  commissioners  of  sewers,  contrary  to  former-  prac¬ 
tice,  and  even  to  the  law  of  the  former  and  not  very  dis¬ 
tant  period,  to  provide  sewers  suitable  for  receiving  the 
soil  from  the  houses  and  cess-pools,  which  before  were  ab¬ 
solutely  necessary,  are  now  treated  as  nuisances  that  ought 
to  be  removed.” 

The  general  Board  of  Health,  in  their  report  on  the  sup¬ 
ply  of  water  to  London,  say  “  Where  appropriate  arrange- 


20 


merits  are  made  for  at  once  receiving  such  refuse  as  human 
excreta  in  water,  at  a  proper  coolness  of  temperature,  which 
arrests  decomposition.  It  is  proved  to  be  practicable  to 
remove  it  from  beneath  dwellings  at  the  very  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  process  of  decomposition,  and  to  convey  it 
beyond  the  urban  precincts  before  it  can  have  arrived  at 
the  more  noxious  stages  of  decay — a  condition  which  it 
must  reach  to  a  large  and  most  injurious  extent,  under  any 
of  the  schemes  which  allow  accumulations  of  refuse. 

“The  report  has  brought  before  us  facts  in  support  of 
their  strongly  urged  and  unanimous  opinion,  that  no  popu¬ 
lation  can  be  healthy  which  lives  amid  cess-pools,  or  upon 
a  soil  permeated  by  decomposing  animal  or  vegetable 
refuse,  giving  off  impurities  to  the  air,  into  their  houses 
and  into  the  streets.  They  state  the  necessity  of  prevent¬ 
ing  all  accumulations  ol  stagnant  refuse  in  or  near  houses, 
and  of  substituting  a  system  of  house  drainage  and  cleans¬ 
ing,  aided  by  the  introduction  of  better  supplies  of  water 
into  the  houses. 

“  Objections  to  the  abolition  of  cess-pools  are  frequently 
urged  on  the  presumption  that  the  lowest  class  of  occupiers 
are  so  degraded  as  to  be  unfitted  for  the  use  of  the  appli¬ 
ances  of  cleanliness  and  health.  But  the  proper  usage  of 
them  by  the  poorer  class,  by  colliers  in  the  northern  dis¬ 
tricts,  and  by  occupiers  of  mews  in  London,  has  furnished 
a  complete  answer  to  that  objection. 

u  The  result  to  be  obtained  by  a  proper  combination  of 
works,  in  the  immediate  and  rapid  removal  of  refuse,  and 
the  prevention  of  its  accumulation  under  or  near  dwellings, 
is  even  now  so  little  understood,  while  it  is  of  so  much 
practical  importance,  that  it  is  necessary  still  further  to 
illustrate  this  part  of  the  subject,  by  adverting  to  the 


21 


futility  of  the  expedients  resorted  to  for  the  correction  of 
the  evils  arising  from  disconnected  and  inefficient  works. 
The  public  having  required  protection  from  noxious  gases 
issuing  from  decomposing  refuse  in  street  sewers  and 
drains  in  immediate  connection  with  houses,  recourse  has 
hitherto  been  had  by  engineers  and  surveyors  to  flap-traps, 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  effluvia.  These  flaps  for 
“  gully-shoots,”  or  the  openings  from  sewers  into  streets? 
have  varied  from  eight  pounds  to  half  a  hundred,  and  even 
one  hundred  weight ;  and  for  house  drains,  from  two  hun¬ 
dred  to  twelve.  But  the  rates  of  discharge  through  these 
channels  had  not  been  considered,  nor  the  fact  that  the 
heavier  flap  would,  when  water  was  constantly  discharged 
in  mere  dribblets,  weigh  dowrn  and  detain  substances  in  sus¬ 
pension.  This  form  of  apparatus  was  adopted  without  any 
previous  trial,  and  has  been  continued  in  use  without  suffi¬ 
cient  observation,  until  the  recent  investigations,  when  it 
was  found  that  it  did  not  effect  the  objects  intended,  but 
that  it  commonly  aggravated  the  existing  evil  by  the  col¬ 
lection  of  filth  in  the  lower  part  of  the  trap,  and  the  deten¬ 
tion  and  accumulation  of  light  floating  substances  in  the 
sewers.  The  matter  thus  accumulated  decomposing,  the 
general  experience  in  the  city  and  other  places,  was  that 
more  offensive  smells  arose  from  the  sewer  cess-pools 
formed  by  the  traps,  than  from  the  sewers  themselves.  To 
‘  whatever  extent  the  traps  placed  in  the  gully-shoots  acted 
in  obstructing  the  discharge  of  the  products  of  the  decom¬ 
position  into  streets,  they  increased  the  amount  and  rapidity 
of  the  discharge  through  untrapped  house  drains  into 
houses. 

It  was  also  found  that  the  trapping  of  main  sewers  fre¬ 
quently  favored  decomposition,  and  prevented  the  trans- 


22 


mission  of  the  gases  generated  in  them,  so  that  the  men 
employed  to  cleanse  them  were  constantly  placed  in  immi¬ 
nent  danger.  It  was  further  found  that  when  gases  are 
evolved  in  considerable  quantities  from  decomposing  refuse, 
whether  in  sewers  or  house  drains,  they  force  their  way 
through  water  in  bell-traps,  through  syphon-traps,  and 
through  every  other  description  of  trap. 

Loud  demands  have  been  made  that  long  lines  of  open 
ditches  and  sewers  containing  stagnant  deposit  should  be 
arched  over,  but  this  measure,  as  now  executed,  though  it 
may  mask,  actually  aggravates  the  evil,  at  an  expense  often 
double  that  which,  with  a  proper  combination  of  works, 
would  suffice  for  its  prevention. 

Openings  have  been  made  from  sewers  communicating 
with  the  open  air  in  the  center  of  the  streets ;  an  iron 
grating  may  be  seen  covering  these  untrapped  vents,  which 
can  only  serve  to  let  out  the  foul  air  in  the  center  of  the 
roadway,  instead  of  in  the  channel  through  the  gully-grate, 
as  heretofore.  The  atmosphere  of  the  town  is  contaminated 
no  less  by  the  alteration. 

The  system  of  trapping  having  failed,  other  plans  have 
been  proposed,  with  a  view  to  the  ventilation  of  large  sew¬ 
ers.  The  expedient  of  erecting  chimney  shafts  with  fur¬ 
naces,  to  draw  out  the  foul  gases,  has  been  tried,  for 
example,  at  Paris  and  Antwerp.  Sewers  have  been  partially 
ventilated  by  this  means,  but  some  of  these  gases  being 
heavier  than  atmospheric  air,  have  again  descended,  and 
spread  offensive  odors  over  wide  districts.  At  Antwerp  it 
has  been  observed  that,  though  in  certain  states  of  the 
weather  no  offensive  odor  could  be  perceived,  yet  whenever 
any  fog  hung  over  the  city,  the  diffusion  of  noxious  gases 
was  rendered  disagreeably  sensible.  In  London,  the  steam 


23 


jet  has  been  tried,  and,  like  the  chimney  shaft,  it  has  been 
found  to  partially  discharge  the  gases  from  sewers,  but  by 
frequent  renewal  of  the  air  in  contact  with  refuse  in  rapid 
decay,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  result  of  this  experiment 
was  not  a  far  more  quick  and  copious  diffusion  of  foul  and 
dangerous  gases,  which,  though  drawn  from  the  sewer  and 
discharged  into  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  were  not 
changed  to  a  condition  of  salubrity.  Upon  the  whole,  these 
operations  have  not  realized  their  promise. 

Another  class  of  remedies  have  been  suggested,  which 
it  was  proposed  to  bring  into  use  on  a  large  scale,  namely, 
chemical  “  disinfectants,”  as  they  are  termed,  but  more 
properly“de-odorizers,”  for  though  they  undoubtedly  destroy 
the  most  offensive  odors,  arising  from  the  putrefaction  and 
decay  of  vegetable  and  animal  matters,  yet  there  is  not 
sufficient  evidence  that  they  decompose  and  destroy  the 
noxious  gases  themselves.  On  a  review  of  the  whole  evi¬ 
dence,  it  appears  that  there  is  no  true  remedy  for  the  evils 
in  question,  but  that  which  prevents  the  accumulation  of 
refuse  matter,  by  providing  for  its  immediate  and  rapid 
removal. 

But  even  supposing  that  the  several  expedients  of  cover¬ 
ing  over  the  refuse,  of  shutting  out  emanations  by  trapping, 
of  ventilating  sewers,  and  of  de-odorizing  their  contents, 
had,  upon  trial,  proved  to  be  completely  effectual,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  far  greater  expense  would  be  entailed 
for  works  of  this  character,  than  for  proper  works  by 
which  accumulations  would  be  entirely  prevented. 

Hitherto,  blocks  of  houses  in  which  the  combination  of 
water  supply  with  tubular  drainage  has  been  effected,  have 
all  their  out-falls  in  old  sewers,  whence  some  of  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  decomposition  might  still  be  derived.  Neverthe- 


24 


less,  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  residents  in  such 
houses  is,  that  immediate  and  apparently  complete  relief 
has  been  experienced.  It  is,  indeed,  only  when  the  deposit 
accumulates  and  stagnates,  that  the  copious  evolution  of 
deleterious  gases  takes  place. 

All  the  surveyors  and  other  witnesses,  whose  duty  com¬ 
pels  them  frequently  to  traverse  these  sub-ways,  concur  in 
stating  that  they  sustain  no  inconvenience  whatever,  and 
perceive  scarcely  any  smell  from  running  sewer-water. 
Nor  is  there  apparently  any  evolution  cf  putrescent  gas 
from  this  source;  and,  indeed,  when  substances  in  the  in¬ 
cipient  state  of  putrefaction  and  decay  are  immersed  in 
cold  running  water,  decomposition  is  immediately  checked. 
When  the  run  of  water  is  concentrated  in  the  branch  tubu¬ 
lar  drains,  the  draft  of  air  procured  is  downwards  rather 
than  upwards,  and  this  must  be  so  when  the  flow  is  consid¬ 
erable.  It  is  confidently  predicted  that  when  the  common 
syphon  or  water  traps  are  relieved  from  the  pressure  of 
such  gases  as  are  now  evolved  from  stagnant  fluid  and 
semi-fluid  matter,  that  they  will  be  found  effectual  in  arrest¬ 
ing  any  odors  which  may  arise  from  the  reduced  surface  of 
running  sewer-water.” 

“The  proportion  of  soluble  and  insoluble  matter  in  sewer- 
water  is  usually  less  than  one  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
times  its  volume.” 

“  The  following  extract  is  from  a  description  of  the  cess¬ 
pool  system  of  Paris,  published  by  Thomas  W.  Ramsey, 
C.  E.  As  the  inconveniences  and  bad  results  of  this  sys¬ 
tem  are  not  generally  known  in  this  country,  and,  as  it  affords 
a  contrast  to  the  English  system,  I  have  copied  so  much  as 
I  deem  will  be  of  interest  to  those  who  are  anxious  that 
we  should  adopt  a  thorough  system  of  sanitary  reform. 


25 


w  The  following  account  of  the  system  adopted  in  Paris 
for  the  disposal  of  the  refuse  matter  of  the  inhabitants  was 
drawn  up,  after  some  inquiries  on  the  subject  made  during 
a  visit  to  that  city,  in  the  months  of  April  and  May,  1848. 

“  It  is  the  practice  in  Paris  to  dispose  of  all  the  kitchen 
and  dry  refuse,  by  depositing  it  on  the  streets  at  midnight, 
whence  it  is  removed  at  dawn  and  during  the  early  morn¬ 
ing  hours,  by  the  scavengers.  In  the  meantime,  however, 
the  heaps  are  carefully  turned  over  by  chiffouiers,  a  numer¬ 
ous  class,  to  whom  all  sorts  of  odds  and  ends,  such  as 
bones,  bits  ol  bread,  rags,  old  pots,  broken  bottles,  etc.,  etc., 
have  a  marketable  value. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  liquid  refuse,  including  water 
which  has  been  used  in  culinary  or  cleansing  purposes,  is 
got  rid  of  by  means  of  open  channels  laid  across  the  court 
yards,  and  the  foot  pavements  to  the  street  gutters,  along 
which  it  flows  until  it  falls  through  the  nearest  gulley  into 
the  sewers,  and  ultimately  into  the  Seine.  If  produced  in 
the  upper  part  of  a  house,  this  description  of  refuse  is  first 
poured  into  an  external  shoot  branching  out  of  the  rain-wa¬ 
ter  pipe,  with  one  of  which  every  floor  is  usually  provided. 
Iron  pipes  have  been  lately  introduced  in  place  of  the  open 
channels  across  the  foot  pavements,  these  are  laid  level  with 
the  surface,  and  are  cast  with  an  open  slit  about  one  inch 
in  width  at  the  top,  to  afford  facility  for  cleansing  them. 
During  the  busy  parts  of  the  day,  there  are  constant  streams 
of  such  fluids  running  through  most  of  the  streets  of  Paris, 
the  smell  arising  from  which,  is  by  no  means  agreeable. 
In  hot  weather  it  is  the  practice  to  turn  on  the  public  stand 
pipes  for  an  hour  or  two,  to  dilute  the  matter  and  accelerate 
the  flow.  With  respect  to  fsecal  refuse,  and  much  of  the 
house  slops,  particularly  those  of  bed-chambers,  the  cess- 

4 


26 


pool  is  universally  adopted  in  Paris,  as  the  immediate  re¬ 
ceptacle.  The  cess-pools  are  of  two  sorts,  1st,  fixed  or  ex¬ 
cavated  cess-pools,  2d,  movable  cess-pools. 

“  In  early  times  the  excavated  cess-pools  or  pits,  were  con¬ 
structed  in  the  rudest  manner,  and  cleaned  out  more  or  less 
frequently,  or  utterly  neglected,  at  the  discretion  of  their 
owners.  As  the  city  increased  in  size,  however,  and  as  the 
permeations  necessarily  taking  place  in  the  soil,  accumu¬ 
lated  in  lapse  of  centuries,  the  evil  resulting  was  found  to 
be  of  grave  magnitude,  calling  for  prompt  and  vigorous  in¬ 
terference  on  the  part  of  the  authorities.  It  appears  cer¬ 
tain  that  prior  to  the  year  1819,  (when  a  strict  ordinance 
was  issued  on  the  subject,)  the  cess-pools  were  very  care¬ 
lessly  constructed.  For  the  most  part  they  were  far  from 
water-tight,  and  very  probably  were  generally  intended  to  be 
so.  Consequently,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  fluid  matter 
which  passed  into  them,  drained  into  the  springs  beneath 
the  substratum,  or  became  absorbed  by  the  surrounding 
soil.  Not  only  this,  the  basement  walls  of  the  houses  be¬ 
came  saturated  with  these  offensive  permeations,  and  the 
atmosphere,  more  particularly  in  the  interior  of  dwellings, 
tainted  with  their  exhalations. 

“  The  movable  cess-pools  for  the  most  part,  consist  simply 
of  tanks  or  barrels,  which,  when  full,  are  removed  to  some 
convenient  spot  for  the  purpose  of  their  contents  being  dis¬ 
charged.  This  form  of  cess-pool,  though  not  leading  to  the 
contamination  of  the  soil,  naturally  induced  by  the  fixed  or 
excavated  cess-pool,  may  occasion  many  offensive  nuisances 
from  carelessness  in  overflowing,  or  in  the  process  of  emp¬ 
tying. 

“  It  was  with  a  view  to  protect  the  public  health  from  the 
serious  evils  engendered  by  a  reckless  process  of  accumu- 


27 


lation  of  faecal  matter  that  the  ordinance  above  referred 
to  was  issued  on  the  24th  of  September,  1819,  laying  down 
stringent  regulations  both  as  to  the  structure  of  cess-pools 
fixed  and  movable,  and  their  mode  of  emptying.  The  exe¬ 
cution  of  this  ordinance  is  entrusted  to  the  Prefect  of  Police. 
The  system  established  by  it,  is  evidently  the  fruit  of  a  very 
careful  study  of  the  subject  in  all  its  details,  and  the  regu¬ 
lations  are  very  rigidly  enforced.” 

Fixed  cess-pools  have  the  walls,  arch,  and  bottom  made 
of  stone,  set  in  Hydraulic  mortar,  the  interior  plastered,  all 
the  angles  on  the  inside  rounded  off. 

A  principle  object  of  the  ordinance  was  to  insure  the 
cess-pools  being  thenceforth  made  water  tight,  so  that  fur¬ 
ther  pollution  of  the  substratum  and  springs  might  be  pre¬ 
vented,  and  the  provisions  for  its  attainment  have  been 
strictly  enforced  by  the  police.  The  present  cess-pools  are, 
in  fact,  water-tight  constructions,  retaining  the  whole  of  the 
liquids  passed  into  them,  until  the  same  are  withdrawn  by 
artificial  means.  The  advantage  has  its  attendant  incon¬ 
venience,  and,  moreover,  has  been  dearly  paid  for,  for  inde¬ 
pendently  of  the  costs  of  the  alterations,  and  the  increased 
cost  of  making. the  cess-pools  in  the  outset,  the  liquids  no 
longer  drain  away  by  permeation,  and  the  constant  expense 
of  emptying  them  has  constantly  increased.  In  the  better 
class  of  houses  where  water  is  more  freely  used,  whereas 
the  cess-pool  was  formerly  emptied  every  eighteen  months 
or  two  years,  the  operation  has  now  to  be  repeated  every 
three,  four,  or  five  months.  An  increased  supply  of  water 
has  added  to  the  evil,  moderate  even  now  as  the  extent  of 
this  supply  is. 

“  The  cess-pools  vary  considerably  in  foulness,  and  it  is 
remarkable  that  those  containing  the  greatest  proportion  of 


28 


water  are  the  most  foul  and  dangerous.  This  is  accounted 
for  by  the  increased  quantity  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas 
evolved ;  and  is  more  particularly  the  case  where,  from 
their  large  size,  or  from  the  small  number  of  people  using 
them,  much  time  is  allowed  for  the  matter  to  stagnate  and 
decompose. 

“The  mode  of  emptying  the  excavated  or  fixed  cess-pools, 
is  to  pump  their  contents  into  closed  carts  for  transport. 
The  matter  is  forced  up  by  atmospheric  pressure  into  the 
vacuum  produced  in  the  cart.  Complicated,  laborious,  and 
expensive  as  these  operations  are,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  the  process  of  emptying  a  fixed  cess-pool  is  no  longer  a 
nuisance.  The  magnitude  of  the  original  evil  is  certainly 
much  diminished  by  the  improved  method  adopted,  but  in 
its  reduced  dimensions  it  still  exists,  and  will  continue  to 
exist  as  long  as  the  cess-pools  themselves.  On  the  first  re¬ 
moval  of  the  stone  that  covers  the  manhole,  there  is  an 
escape  of  gas  from  the  cess-pool,  and  this  goes  on  in  a 
greater  or  smaller  volume  until  the  aperture  is  again  closed  up 
A  furnace  is  used  to  burn  the  noxious  gases  evolved,  but 
the  advantages  attributed  to  it  are  overrated — when  the 
pump  is  in  full  operation,  the  gases  are  forced  through  the 
furnace  with  a  rapidity  too  great  to  allow  of  perfect  com¬ 
bustion — compared  with  a  tubular  system  of  refuse  drain¬ 
age,  the  cess-pool  system  is  an  exceeding  expensive  mode 
of  disposing  of  the  faecal  refuse  of  a  town,  so  much  so,  that 
even  in  Paris  the  existing  cess-pools  might  be  abandoned 
and  a  system  of  tubular  drainage  substituted,  for  a  consider¬ 
ably  less  annual  sum,  including  interest  for  capital  sunk  in 
works  of  construction,  than  is  now  spent  in  emptying  cess¬ 
pools;  while  viewed  in  connection  with  the  whole  subject 


29 


of  town  drainage,  it  is  seen  to  involve  an  expense  at  once 
serious  and  altogether  useless  and  unnecessary.” 

In  1856,  when  Mr.  Cheeseborougli  visited  Europe  to  ob¬ 
tain  information  as  to  the  sewerage  systems  then  in  use,  the 
following  was  the  mode  then  in  use  in  Paris. 

“  At  present  it  is  not  lawful  for  private  individuals  to 
empty  the  contents  of  their  water-closets  into  the  public 
sewers,  though  exceptions  in  favor  of  public  institutions 
have  become  numerous ;  but  under  the  new  system  under 
trial,  pipes  parallel  with  the  main  sewers  will,  in  some  cases, 
be  provided  for  the  licpiid  portion,  and  all  ether  drainage 
from  houses  will  be  discharged  directly  into  the  public 
sewers  low  down,  and  not  into  street  gutters  as  at  present. 
This  is  to  be  in  operation  all  over  Paris  in  1862. 

“  The  smallest  public  sewer  constructed  under  the  pres¬ 
ent  or  new  system  in  Paris,  is  6£  feet  high  and  4f  feet  wide, 
the  cross  section  being  semi-circular  on  top,  curved  with 
arcs  of  circles  on  the  sides,  and  having  a  segment  of  a  cir¬ 
cle  If  feet  long,  and  depressed  two  inches  for  the  bottom — one 
reason  for  making  the  smallest  class  of  public  sewers  in 
Paris,  so  much  larger  than  they  are  in  every  other  city,  is 
the  practice,  which,  till  within  ten  years,  existed  only  there, 
of  placing  the  water  mains  in  them — with  smaller  sizes,  it 
would  be  difficult  and  painful  for  workmen  to  introduce  or 
repair  water-pipes. 

“The  house  drains  emptying  into  the  sewers  are  to  be  of 
such  sizes  as  the  proprietors  may  choose,  they  being  obliged 
to  pay  for  them.” 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  report,  presented  to 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works,  by  Messrs.  Hawksley, 
Bidder  and  Bazalgette,  in  1858. 

“We  feel  assured,  however,  from  the  facts  before  us, that 


30 


as  soon  as  tlie  refuse  of  life  has  become  thoroughly  blended 
with  water,  chemical  changes  of  the  most  important  char¬ 
acter  become  gradually  affected  by  the  oxygenation  (with¬ 
out  putrefaction)  of  some,  if  not  all,  the  combustible  elements, 
and  the  consequent  decomposition  and  arrangement  of  the 
other  elements  into  organic  forms,  is  nowise  injurious  to 
the  health  of  animal  beings.  Hence  it  is,  that  the  sub¬ 
stances  which  enter  into  a  sewer  are  either  not  to  be  found 
at  its  mouth,  or  are  only  to  be  there  obtained  in  a  much 
altered  and  scarcely  recognizable  form. — And  hence,  too, 
it  is  that  the  admission  of  foul  organic  matter  into  our  streams 
and  rivers  fails  to  render  them  permanently  impure,  or  sen¬ 
sibly  injurious.  This  beneficent  process  of  nature  is  indeed 
gradual,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  undoubtedly  dependent  on 
the  volume  and  the  quality  of  the  water  into  which  the 
dejecta  are  received.  Observation,  however,  has  satisfied 
us  that  when  sewerage  water  of  ordinary  strength  becomes 
intermixed  in  a  flowing  stream  with  ten  or  twelve  times  its 
own  volume  of  fresh  or  freshened  water,  it  ceases  to  have 
any  tendency  to  run  into  putrefactive  decomposition,  and  is 
finally  consumed  by  the  oxygen  with  which  one  or  more  of 
its  elements  enter  into  purifying  combinations.” 

Dr.  Taylor,  the  eminent  analytical  chemist,  in  his  exam¬ 
ination  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
the  Metropolis  Water  Supply  Bill,  speaking  of  the  effect  of 
water  on  sewerage  matter  states  that :  “  All  such  substances 
are  very  rapidly  decomposed  and  destroyed,  the  nitrogen 
is  converted  into  nitric  acid,  the  sulphur  is  converted  into 
sulphuric  acid,  so  that  the  foetid  and  putrid  substances  which 
go  into  the  river  Thames  from  London,  when  rolled  about 
by  the  action  of  the  water  containing  an  enormous  amount 
of  air,  are  all  oxidized  and  destroyed ;  within  a  certain  limit 


31 


they  may  be  found,  but  still  after  a  very  short  period  they 
are  very  soon  indeed  destroyed.” 

From  these  extracts  it  is  apparent  that,  while  sewers  di¬ 
minish  the  quantity  of  storm- water  flowing  along  the  gut¬ 
ters,  their  chief  use  is  to  drain  the  surrounding  earth,  pre¬ 
vent  dampness  in  the  adjacent  buildings,  and  delay  decom¬ 
position  by  the  rapid  and  complete  removal  of  the  refuse  of 
life  in  running  water,  beyond  the  point  where  it  ceases  to 
be  injurious  to  the  health  of  the  community. 

During  the  year  1861,  the  city  paid  the  sum  of  $7,500, 
and  during  1860,  the  sum  of  $9,365,  for  cleaning  and  repair¬ 
ing  a  few  sewers  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  city,  and  for 
damages  produced  by  their  overflow.  The  heavy  rains  during 
the  month  of  August,  caused  the  loss  of  not  less  than  $200, 
000  by  citizens,  for  which  the  city  is  not  responsible.  In 
the  neighborhood  of  Abigail  and  Sycamore  streets,  on 
Race  from  Findlay  to  Hamilton  road,  on  Henry  from  Race 
to  Dunlap,  and  on  Green  from  Race  to  Elm,  the  houses 
were  flooded.  In  connection  with  the  Commissioner  of  the 
Eastern  District  I  made  examination  of  the  losses  sustained 
by  each  individual,  and  the  circumstances  connected  there¬ 
with,  of  which  a  record  was  made  by  the  clerk  of  the  Board 
of  City  Improvements.  In  many  houses  the  water  stood 
four  feet  above  the  ground  floor,  it  threw  down  cellar  walls, 
cracked  the  side  walls  of  houses,  floated  off  wood  and  furni¬ 
ture,  and  did  incalculable  damage. 

In  the  few  localities  just  mentioned  it  is  necessary  by 
reason  of  the  improper  arrangement  of  the  surface  grades  to 
construct  sewers  capacious  enough  to  carry  away  the  storm¬ 
water  as  fast  as  it  falls.  Such  damage  might  be  entirely 
obviated  by  constructing  two  main  sewers  of  improved  form 
and  proper  inclination,  and  a  few  laterals  to  catch  the  water 


1 


32 


before  it  accumulates  where  no  well-hole  can  receive  it. 
The  one  on  Liberty  from  Linn  to  Race,  of  eight  feet  interior 
diameter,  and  thence  to  Hamilton  Road,  of  six  feet  interior 
diameter,  with  a  lateral  to  Green  and  Pleasant  streets  and 
connection  with  the  Hamilton  Road  and  Henry  street  sew¬ 
ers,  so  as  to  relieve  that  sewer  which  passes  under  the  canal 
near  Procter  &  Gamble’s  Factory.  The  estimated  cost  of 
this  sewer  with  its  laterals,  is  fifty-three  thousand  dollars. 
The  other  sewer  from  Woodward  and  Sycamore  to  the  canal 
at  Broadway,  thence  through  the  bed  of  the  canal  to  the 
Ohio  River.  This  sewer  should  have  laterals  on  Wood¬ 
ward  and  Abigail  from  Main  to  Sycamore  streets,  and  on 
Abigail  from  Pendleton  to  Sycamore. 

The  portion  of  the  sewer  from  Woodward  and  Sycamore 
to  the  canal,  would  entirely  relieve  this  neighborhood  of 
overflow  and  should  be  constructed  as  expeditiously  as 
possible.  The  estimated  cost  of  this  portion  with  its  laterals 
is  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars. 

That  portion  of  the  canal  sewer  from  Third  to  Fourth 
streets,  should  be  quickly  built,  so  as  to  give  a  continuous 
street  of  easy  gradient  for  the  heavy  business  to  the  depot. 

The  estimated  cost  of  the  sewer  and  waste  weir  from 
Broadway  to  the  lower  side  of  Front  street,  is  one  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars,  if  the  material  in  the  locks 
can  be  used. 

On  the  28th  of  December,  1858,  the  Board  of  City  Im¬ 
provements  sent  to  the  City  Council  the  following  commu¬ 
nication,  with  reference  to  the  occupation,  for  sewerage 
and  street  purposes,  of  that  portion  of  the  Miami  Canal 
from  Broadway  to  the  Ohio  River. 

“The  Board  of  City  improvements  respectfully  urge  upon 
the  City  Council  to  take  immediate  measures  to  bring 


33 


about  valuable  improvements  for  the  interest  of  the  city, 
in  the  valley  of  Deer  Creek. 

“The  private  sewers  draining  this  portion  of  the  city,  are 
in  a  hazardous  condition,  and  from  recent  occurrences  the 
citizens  are  reminded  that  serious  damage  may  result  by 
further  falling-in  of  the  sewer,  which  has  proved  so  imper¬ 
fect.  It  has  now  become  an  imperative  necessity  to  pro¬ 
vide  a  sewer  through  this  locality. 

“  It  is  also  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  general  inter¬ 
ests  of  the  citizens,  that  a  basis  should  be  agreed  upon  for 
the  permanent  improvements  of  the  streets  in  the  Deer 
Creek  valley. 

“  That  these  needed  improvements  may  be  at  once  com¬ 
menced,  we  respectfully  suggest  and  recommend  that  an 
immediate  conference  be  had  by  an  appropriate  committee 
of  your  Honorable  Council,  with  the  Board  of  Public  Works 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  hereafter  with  the  Canal  Com¬ 
mittees  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  ascertain  if  that  por¬ 
tion  of  the  Miami  Canal,  within  the  limits  of  this  city 
extending  from  lock  No. — ,  at  intersection  of  Court  street  and 
Broadway,  to  the  Ohio  River,  now  no  longer  profitable  to 
the  State  for  navigation,  but  on  the  contrary  a  grievous  ex¬ 
pense,  may  not  be  transferred  to  the  City  of  Cincinnati  for 
sewerage  and  street  purposes. «  The  State  retaining  the 
disposition  of  the  hydraulic  powers  if  so  desired. 

“  The  city  could  then,  by  arching  over  the  bed  of  the  canal, 
adapt  it  for  a  permanent  and  commodious  sewer,  capacious 
enough  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  heaviest  rains,  and  to 
conduct  away  the  refuse  from  slaughter  houses  and  manu¬ 
factories  along  Deer  Creek,  thus  ridding  that  part  of  the 
city  of  the  exposure  of  a  serious  nuisance. 

“  The  water  power  could  be  continued  by  means  of  a  waste 


34 


weir,  as  at  present,  which  could  aid  at  times,  in  thoroughly 
flushing  the  sewer. 

“  Over  the  arched  sewer,  filled  up  to  the  proper  grade,  a 
wide  bowldered  avenue  from  Broadway  to  the  river,  would 
be  a  valuable  improvement,  now  much  needed — a  wharf 
at  its  terminus  would  become  a  source  of  revenue  to  the 
city,  and  of  great  accommodation  to  a  heavy  trade  that  now 
exists  and  would  be  built  up  in  that  quarter. 

“  Complaints  are  made  of  the  damages  to  life  and  limb  in¬ 
cident  from  the  succession  of  locks  in  a  much  traveled  por¬ 
tion  of  the  city.  The  constant  expenditures  required  by 
the  city  for  new  bridges  and  repair  of  old  ones,  urge  the 
proposed  disposition  of  the  canal  thus  spoken  of. 

“  Our  citizens  also,  are  heavy  tax-payers,  supporting  a 
large  share  of  the  burthens  of  the  expenditures  for  State 
purposes,  and  they  are  the  dissatisfied  witnesses,  of  a  con¬ 
stant  and  unnecessary  squandering  of  large  sums  of  the 
people’s  money  yearly,  in  keeping  open  a  small  but  costly 
portion  of  a  canal,  which  so  far  as  navigation,  is  a  waste  of 
waters. 

“  Expensive  lock-walls  are  gradually  going  to  decay,  while 
rotten  and  rickety  gates  have  to  be  replaced  every  few  years 
at  great  expense  and  trouble. 

“  This  nuisance  has  awakened  the  attention  of  property 
holders,  and  we  have  on  file  a  memorial  from  nearly  every 
owner  of  real  estate  on  either  side  of  the  canal,  within  the 
bounds  stated,  praying  that  the  city  authorities  secure  said 
portion  of  the  Miami  canal.  Having  satisfied  ourselves 
that  the  improvements  named  should  be  taken  at  once,  we 
respectfully  recommend  your  Honorable  Body  to  commit 
this  important  matter  into  the  charge  of  a  suitable  commit¬ 
tee  for  consideration,  and  prompt  action.” 

During  the  past  year  alone  we  have  expended  over 


35 

$3,000  in  repairing  this  sewer,  under  Third  street,  and  its 
defective  construction  and  decaying  condition  plainly  por¬ 
tend  its  early  and  entire  disruption,  and  the  incalculable 
damage,  which  must  inevitably  accrue  therefrom. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  an  act  was  passed 
“  to  provide  for  leasing  the  Public  W orks  of  the  State,”  but 
section  17  provided,  “  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  pre¬ 
clude  the  State  from  granting  permission  to  the  City 
of  Cincinnati,  to  enter  upon  and  improve  as  a  public  high¬ 
way,  and  for  sewerage  purposes,  all  or  any  of  that  part  of 
the  Miami  and  Erie  canal,  which  extends  from  the  east  side 
of  Broadway,  in  said  City  to  the  Ohio  River.  The  State 
hereby  reserving  the  right  to  make  such  grant.” 

I  would  advise  that  the  City  Council  take  the  necessary 
meausures  to  obtain  from  the  State  the  cession  of  this  por¬ 
tion  of  the  canal,  and  to  construct  as  speedily  as  possible  a 
sewer,  of  the  shape  and  size  shown  in  the  annexed  dia¬ 
gram. 

Below  Third  street  no  waste  weirs  will  be  necessary, 
while  by  judicious  management  the  cost  of  those  be¬ 
tween  Fifth  street  and  Broadway  will  be  light.  Doubtless 
the  owners  of  property  abutting  on  the  canal  would 
willingly  pay  a  fair  proportion  of  the  cost  of  the  sewer,  and 
the  entire  cost  of  grading  and  paving  the  street.  This  im¬ 
provement  would  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  the  circum¬ 
jacent  property,  would  be  the  basis  for  future  improvement 
in  Deer  Creek  valley,  would  prevent  the  great  loss  from 
overflow  which  annually  occurs,  and  would  be  a  wide, 
straight  avenue  of  light  grades  from  the  depots  to  the  cen¬ 
tral  portions  of  the  city. 

In  constructing  our  main  sewers,  we  must  throw  aside 
all  built  previous  to  the  year  1857,  as  it  would  only 
be  a  misapplication  of  funds  to  perfect,  in  detail,  what 


36 

is  defective  in  principle,  and  will  only  serve  to  protract  the 
existing  evil,  to  the  exclusion  of  others  more  capable  of 
meeting  the  demands  of  the  day.  This  is  apparent  to  any 
one  who  has  examined  the  condition  of  our  old  sewers  ;  last 
summer  after  the  heavy  rain,  the  old  stone  sewers  on  Syca¬ 
more  street,  Hamilton  Road,  and  Henry  street  were  filled 
with  earth,  stone,  and  rubbish,  to  within  two  feet  of  the 
crown  of  the  arch.  The  great  fault  with  the  sewers,  which 
have  heretofore  been  built  is,  that  during  an  ordinary  flow, 
the  water  is  spread  over  such  a  broad  surface  that  it  has 
no  velocity,  and  consequently  no  power  of  scour,  but  if  it 
were  concentrated  in  smaller  size  channels  and  kept  regu¬ 
larly  in  action,  it  would  increase  the  depth,  the  velocity, 
and  the  consequent  power  of  scour. 

It  is  easier  and  cheaper  to  remove  this  material  from  the 
surface  than  from  the  sewer,  and  I  would,  consequently,  ad¬ 
vise  that  the  open  well-holes  be  changed  into  catch-drains 
or  syphon-traps,  and  that  they  be  built  much  more  frequently, 
but  experience  has  proven, 
that  if  large  sewers  are  built 
of  the  form  indicated  by  the 
annexed  diagram,  and  of  the 
same  inclination  as  those  to 
which  we  have  referred,  that 
they  will  clear  themselves 
without  the  aid  of  manual  la¬ 
bor  or  artificial  flushing.  I 
have  made  numerous  extracts  to  show  the  experience  of 
the  best  Engineers  on  this  subject,  and  the  following  from 
the  “Report  of  the  General  Board  of  Health,  on  the  supply 
of  water  to  London, ’’gives  the  result  of  extended  experiments. 

“  In  the  trial  works  on  Earl  street,  conducted  by  Mr. 
Lovick,  the  most  accurate  gaugings  were  obtained  of  the 


37 


flow  in  a  sewer  having  fifteen  feet  sectional  area,  with  a 
flat  segmental  bottom  three  feet  wide,  where  deposit  was 
found  to  accumulate  at  the  rate  of  6,000  cubic  feet  in  31 
days,  from  1200  houses. 

“In  this  sewer  a  pipe  of  fifteen  inches  diameter  laid  along 
the  bottom  at  a  somewhat  less  inclination  than  the  sewer, 
but  with  the  same  run  of  water,  remained  perfectly  clear  of 
deposit.  The  like  results  were  obtained  at  other  places, 
and  it  appeared  that  in  many  such  situations  as  those  where, 
according  to  the  views  of  Messrs.  Walker,  Cobitt,  and  Bru- 
nell,  cleansing  by  flushing  or  hand  labor  would  be  required, 
such  a  line  of  pipe  would  keep  the  sewer  entirely  clear  of 
deposit,  and  so  far  as  the  sewer  itself  was  concerned,  clear 
of  smell. 

“  As  the  power  to  remove  matter  in  suspension  is  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  volume  of  water,  and  the  velocity  with  which 
it  moves,  and  as  this  volocity  increases,  with  the  increased 
inclination,  any  interruption  of  the  fall  or  decrease  of  in¬ 
clination  must  be  attended  with  a  proportionate  loss  of 
power,  and  this  becomes  progressive  in  sewers  situated  in 
districts  below  high-water  mark,  where  the  outlets  are 
affected  by  the  tides.  The  detritus  becomes  so  indurated 
as  to  require  a  very  considerable  force  of  water  and  even 
manual  labor  aided  by  proper  implements,  to  remove  it, 
so  that  the  force  of  water  necessary  to  keep  such  matter  in 
suspension,  bears  but  slight  proportion  to  the  force  requisite 
for  its  removal  when  it  has  once  became  indurated. 

“In  the  Surrey  and  Kent  District,  Mr.  Grant  has  used 
with  success  a  pipe-sewer  of  twenty  four  inches  diameter  at 
the  outlet,  to  take  the  drainage  of  about  twenty-three  acres, 
besides  making  allowance  for  ten  acres,  which  may  be 
added  at  a  future  time. 

“  The  smoothness  of  the  surface  and  the  regularity  of 


38 


form  of  pipes  decrease  the  friction  and  increase  the  flow. 
Mr.  Roe  has  found  the  velocity  in  glazed  stone-ware  pipes, 
to  be  one-third  greater  than  in  brick  drains.” 

The  addition  of  more  water  in  a  sewer  exercises  a  far 
greater  influence  on  the  velocity  than  does  increasing  the 
inclination,  for  a  circular  sewer  pipe  full  at  the  head  will 
discharge  four  times  the  quantity  of  water  discharged  by  the 
same  sewer  pipe,  half  full  at  the  head,  in  the  same  time.” 

The  well  known  engineer  J.  Phillips,  in  his  examination 
before  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary  Committee,  says  “  I  am  of 
opinion,  that  if  constant  currents  of  water  be  carried  through 
the  drains  and  sewers,  though  the  currents  may  be  small, 
yet  provided  they  be  constant  and  concentrated  on  very 
narrow  and  smooth  bottoms,  they  will  keep  the  sewers 
clean.  When  the  supply  is  intermittent,  the  matter  dis¬ 
charged  from  the  house  drains  meeting  with  no  current,  ac¬ 
cumulates.  Hence  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  sewers  large 
enough  for  men  to  pass  through  them  with  tackle,  shovels, 
wheelbarrows,  and  pails,  to  remove  these  accumulations. 
In  order  to  prevent  deposit  in  drains  and  sewers,  there  must  be 
a  certain  degree  of  velocity  and  force  given  to  each  current, 
so  as  to  produce  agitation  equal  to,  or  greater  than  the  vis 
inertiae,  or  weight,  mass,  figure,  and  superfices  of  the  sand, 
silt,  mud,  and  other  substances,  to  be  lifted,  and  kept  always 
moving  or  united  and  incorporated  with  the  running  water, 
added  to  the  friction  of  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  channel. 
The  chance  of  any  sewer  keeping  itself  clean  is  dependent 
on  four  things,  namely,  its  capacity,  its  form,  its  fall  and 
the  quantity  and  force  of  the  water  running  through  it.  It 
is  only  from  observation  and  experience,  and  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  the  rules  deduced  therefrom,  to  the  proportioning, 
the  capacity,  the  form,  and  the  fall,  as  also  the  quantity  and 
force  of  water  requisite  to  prevent  deposit,  that  we  can  hope 
to  arrive  at  perfection  in  sewerage. 


39 


“  The  fall  of  the  sewers  should  be  proportioned  to  the 
quantity  of  water  that  is  to  pass  through  them.  For,  with 
the  same  fall,  the  greater  the  body  of  water  the  greater  will 
be  the  velocity  and  scour;  and  conversly,  the  less  the  body  of 
water,  the  less  will  be  the  velocity  and  scour.  Again  a  large 
body  of  water  will,  with  a  little  fall,  run  with  the  same 
velocity,  as  a  small  quantity  with  a  great  fall.  Hence  the 
recipient  of  many  branch  sewers  may  have  less  fall  than 
the  branches  themselves.” 

“  In  passing  through  the  sewers,  I  have  observed  that 
the  currents  of  water  running  through  very  many  of  the 
branch  and  collateral  sewers,  were  mere  dribbles,  and  that 
from  being  diffused  over  a  large  flat  surface,  they  were  not 
of  sufficient  strength  to  remove  the  soil.  Looking  at  these 
currents,  and  comparing  them  with  the  extraordinary  sizes 
of  the  sewers,  I  should  say  such  currents  might  be  passed 
throngh  pipes  varying  from  three  to  nine  inches  in  diame 
ter.  In  a  large  number  of  the  sewers,  the  currents  have 
cut  narrow  and  deep  channels 
through  the  soil,  and  by  so 
doing,  it  appeared  to  me  that 
nature  was  endeavoring  to  cor¬ 
rect  the  faults  of  art.  I  think  it 
would  be  desirable  to  take  a  lesson 
from  nature  in  this  respect,  and 
form  the  bottoms  of  all  the  sewers, 
which  have  a  tendency  to  choke 
up,  in  accordance  with  the  an¬ 
nexed  sketch. 

“  It  has  sometimes  been  the  practice  to  cut  similar  chan¬ 
nels  through  the  soil  for  the  drainage  to  run  through,  and 
they  have  acted  for  a  time  very  well — indeed,  so  well  as  to 


40 


give  me  entire  confidence  in  the  working  of  narrow  and 
reduced  sizes  of  sewers.  I  propose  to  bed  channel  tiles  of 
various  diameters,  along  the  bottoms  of  the  sewers,  and  fill 
in  behind  them  with  cement.  I  am  satisfied  that  if  the 
currents  could  be  doubled  in  quantity,  concentrated  in 
smaller  sized  channels,  similar  in  form  to  the  above  sketch, 
and  kept  regularly  in  action,  most  of  the  sewers  would 
keep  themselves  clean  by  this  means. 

“  Running  water  is  the  cheapest,  best,  and  most  effectual 
means  for  conveying  away  the  filth  and  refuse  of  a  town.” 

“  To  economize  the  power  of  water,  so  as  to  make  it 
available  in  sweeping  the  filth  before  it  as  fast  as  produced, 
and  in  keeping  the  sewers  thoroughly  clean  by  the  force 
of  gravitation  of  the  water  alone,  and  without  any  mechan¬ 
ical  assistance  whatever,  is  obviously  of  the  greatest  im¬ 
portance.  It  is  with  this  view  and  upon  this  principle,  all 
sewers  should  be  arranged.” 

“  The  inclinations  of  all  rivulets,  brooks,  streams,  and 
rivers,  gradually  and  proportionally  diminish  as  they  pro¬ 
gress  from  their  sources  to  their  out-falls.  In  proportion 
as  the  inclinations  diminish,  so  does  the  quantity  of  water 
increase.  If  the  inclinations  were  the  same  throughout, 
the  velocity  of  the  united  streams  at  each  confluence  would 
increase  in  nearly  the  same  ratio  as  its  quantity,  or  equal 
to  the  sum  of  the  previous  velocities  of  the  recipient  and 
the  feeder,  and  thus  would  the  velocity  ultimately  become 
so  very  impetuous  as  to  tear  up  and  sweep  away  the  mate¬ 
rials  of  its  bed,  and  cause  destruction  along  its  banks.” 

H.  Austin,  Esq.,  C.  E.,  says  that  u  The  practice  of  con¬ 
structing  all  the  sewers  of  sufficient  size  to  convey  away 
the  waters  of  the  greatest  known  storm  is  most  erroneous, 
and  has  tended  to  bring  about  the  most  unscientific  treat- 


41 


ment  of  the  subject,  that  of  an  equalized  system  of  sewer¬ 
age  in  the  place  of  a  graduated  system.  Nature  points 
out  to  us,  in  all  directions,  that  it  is  perfectly  unnecessary. 
Every  unsewered  town  of  the  kingdom  is  an  illustration  of 
the  fact  that  the  provision  of  capacity  of  sewers,  through¬ 
out  the  system,  sufficient  for  the  waters  of  extraordinary 
storms,  is  a  great  error.  This  provision  should  be  made 
only  in  the  main  natural  valley  and  connecting  lines,  which 
the  waters  immediately  descend,  and  where  the  accumula¬ 
tion  calls  for  an  ample  passage.  In  the  higher  portions  ot 
the  district,  even  in  the  total  absence  of  sewers,  storm 
waters  flow  off.  immediately  and  do  no  injury;  while  the 
provision  of  enormous  size  of  sewer,  for  an  event  which 
happens  only  for  a  brief  space  in  an  interval  of  years, 
renders  them  unfit  for  their  daily  and  constant  purpose.” 

“When  Gennete  made  his  experiments  in  1775  in  Hol¬ 
land,  upon  the  sectional  area  of  united  currents  of  water, 
he  discovered,  after  noting  the  height  of  the  water  in  the 
original  channel,  that  he  could  add  another  stream  of  half 
the  original  quantity,  and  afterwards  another  half,  without 
increasing  the  height  or  width  of  the  water  in  the  smallest 
degree.  The  water  in  the  stream  remained,  during  his 
experiments,  at  the  same  height,  but  it  was  observed  that 
the  velocities  of  the  current  were  in  the  same  proportions 
as  the  additions — viz :  as  1,  and  2.  He,  however,  found 
a  limit  to  this  rule,  for  when  he  made  the  increase  three 
times  greater  than  it  was  at  the  commencement,  instead  of 
twice,  the  increase  in  height  was  one-forty-eighth  part  of 
the  whole  height.” 

From  these  extracts,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  large 
sewers  should  be  constructed  only  for  main  lines  where  the 

Water  accumulates — that  there  should  be  as  few  main  sew¬ 
ers  as  possible,  and  these  so  constructed  as  to  concentrate 

6 


42 


the  ordinary  flow.  That  if  the  flow  is  concentrated,  the 
velocity  will  be  increased,  and  will  scour  the  sewers  with¬ 
out  the  assistance  of  manual  labor.  All  other  sewers  should 
be  tubular  pipe,  and  if  they  can  not  receive  all  the  storm 
water,  they  will  greatly  diminish  the  amount  flowing  along 
the  gutters,  and  will  prevent  damage  from  overflow.  There 
will  be  an  immense  saving  in  the  cost  of  construction,  and 
experience  has  shown  that  these  pipes  act  more  efficiently 
than  brick  drains. 

Rigid  economy  should  be  studied  in  public  works.  The 
Engineer’s  duty  is  to  construct,  at  the  lowest  cost  compati¬ 
ble  with  stability  and  efficiency.  There  are*  many  degrees 
of  cost  up  to  an  extreme  maximum,  but  there  is  only  one 
minimum,  and  knowledge,  experience  and  care  are  neces¬ 
sary  to  secure  this. 

During  the  past  ten  years,  a  million  dollars  have  been 
expended  to  extend  the  commerce  and  enrich  the  wealthy 
of  the  city ;  now  the  wealthy  should  be  taxed  to  preserve 
the  health  of  the  community.  “  Health  is  the  poor  man’s 
capital — his  stock  in  trade — his  all — and  as  such  should  be 
preserved  to  him.” 

The  object  of  an  efficient  sanitary  system  is  to  prevent 
the  noxious  exhalations  from  putrefying  animal  or  vegeta¬ 
ble  substances,  and  thus  secure  the  purity  of  the  atmos¬ 
phere.  The  most  effectual  mode  of  doing  this,  as  has  been 
shown,  is  by  washing  such  matters  into  well  arranged 
sewers,  by  which  they  will  be  quickly  borne  into  the  river, 
where  putrefaction  will  be  prevented  by  their  intermixture 
with  a  large  quantity  of  fresh  water.  But  we  need  not  be 
idle  until  our  sewers  are  built.  Much  can  be  effected  by 
draining  the  stagnant  pools  which  abound,  by  cleaning  the 
dirty  streets  and  alleys,  by  preventing  the  crowding  of  hu¬ 
man  beings  into  ill- ventilated  dwellings ;  by  reverting  to 


43 


first  principles,  and  allowing  the  hogs  to  consume  the  gar¬ 
bage  rather  than  produce  a  hot-bed  of  disease,  by  leaving 
it  to  decompose  in  the  very  midst  of  the  city. 

About  two  years  since,  the  City  Council  were  seriously 
exorcised  about  the  system  then  used  in  cleaning  streets, 
and  they  passed  an  ordinance  compelling  the  occupants  of 
houses  to  place  their  ashes  and  garbage  in  separate  vessels, 
so  that,  during  the  summer  months  especially,  they  could 
be  frequently  removed. 

Many  persons  furnished  these  two  receptacles,  but  seeing 
the  contractors  throw  their  contents  into  the  same  cart, 
soon  dispensed  with  one,  and  now  the  garbage  and  ashes 
are  dumped  on  lots  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city.  As  this 
garbage  decays,  it  must  produce  disease,  and  I  would  ad¬ 
vise  that  the  contractors  be  required  to  remove  it  beyond 
the  corporation  line,  or  dump  it  in  the  river  by  means  of 
the  sullage  boat. 

If  the  ashes  were  not  such  a  powerful  de-odorizer,  the 
garbage  would  have  long  since  emitted  an  intolerable 
stench,  which  would  have  caused  the  abatement  of  this 
nuisance,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  de-odorizers 
are  not  always  disinfectants. 

The  contractors  seem  to  have  derived  all  the  advantages 
from  the  passage  of  the  new  ordinance,  as  they  get  more 
money  for  their  services,  expend  less,  and  their  contracts 
endure  longer.  In  fact,  the  streets  can  not  be  kept  clean, 
except  by  sweeping  and  washing.  This  system  has  been 
satisfactorily  tried  in  many  European  cities,  and  in  Phila¬ 
delphia.  The  dust  can  be  removed  in  no  other  way,  and 
the  immense  quantity  of  dust  which  accumulates  in  the 
streets,  must  greatly  injure  the  public  health.  In  houses 
bordering  on  the  streets,  the  furniture  is  often  covered  with 
dust.  In  walking  through  the  streets,  our  clothing  becomes 


44 


saturated  with  it,  and  our  lungs  and  air  tubes  with  a  moist 
lining,  to  detain  the  dust,  are  constantly  pumping  the  same 
atmosphere. 

I  think  the  city  should  erect  water  plugs  on  each  square, 
furnish  the  water  without  cost  to  the  contractors,  and  require 
them  to  wash  clean  the  surface  of  the  thoroughfares  at  least 
once  a  week.  This  will  wash  the  refuse  into  the  sewers, 
where  they  are  built,  and  where  not  built  it  will  accumulate 
in  the  gutters,  where  it  can  be  easily  scraped  into  piles  and 
removed  before  the  heat  of  the  day. 

Street  washing  has  not  the  deleterious  effect  very  prop¬ 
erly  ascribed  to  sprinkling  the  streets  as  fast  as  they  be¬ 
come  dry  in  the  sweltering  summer  day,  and  thus  keeping- 
up  a  constant  fermentation  and  putrefaction,  to  the  annoy¬ 
ance  of  delicate  olfactories,  and  the  deterioration  of  the 
purity  of  the  commor  air. 

A  section  of  hose  attached  to  a  water  plug  below  Third 
street,  will  force  the  water  to  the  roof  of  the  highest  house, 
and  if  the  citizens  of  each  square  would  keep  hose  in  a 
convenient  place,  it  would  prevent  the  spread  of  fire. 

I  do  not  wish  to  interfere  in  the  business  of  the  Water 
Works  department,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  if  these  plugs 
were  made  public  hydrants,  the  community  would  be  the 
gainer  by  it.  By  the  present  arrangement,  the  poor,  who 
occupy  miserable  tenement  houses,  for  which  they  pay  the 
largest  per  centage  on  the  original  outlay,  and  who  most 
need  water,  are  deprived  of  it  in  consequence  of  the  sordid 
penury  of  landlords. 

Whenever  the  opportunity  occurred,  the  poor  have  ever 
availed  themselves  of  a  supply  of  water  to  clean  their  per¬ 
sons  and  their  dwellings.  By  producing  cleanliness  and 
preventing  drunkenness,  the  city  would  save,  in  its  hospital 
and  prison,  what  it  would  expend  in  erecting  and  maintain- 


45 


ing  these  public  hydrants.  “  Physical  degradation  soon 
ends  in  moral  debasement.” 

Dr.  Sutherland  repojts  to  the  Board  of  Health  of  Lon¬ 
don,  that  “  During  the  late  epidemic  of  cholera,  I  had 
several  opportunities  of  witnessing  the  beneficial  effects  of 
the  water  jet  in  cleansing  filthy  localities,  and  in  flushing 
sewers. 

“In  those  narrow,  filthy  closes,  and  close  localities  which 
exist  more  or  less  in  all  large  towns,  it  would,  in  my  opin¬ 
ion,  be  of  very  little  good,  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  to 
endeavor  to  keep  them  clean  by  sweeping.  The  very  pro¬ 
cess  may,  at  times,  do  mischief,  for  at  the  best,  it  involves 
the  smearing  of  the  surface  with  unwholesome  and  offen¬ 
sive  matters,  so  as  to  expose  a  larger  evaporating  area  to 
the  atmosphere.  I  have  often  found  the  air  of  these  places 
insupportably  offensive  after  the  work  of  the  scavenger 
was  completed.  Not  unfrequently,  the  paving  is  also  in  a 
very  defective  state.  It  gets  broken  up  in  a  variety  of  do¬ 
mestic  processes,  so  that  the  broken  surface  adds  materially 
to  the  local  unhealthiness,  by  the  accumulated  filth  which 
it  harbors.  In  such  cases,  scavengering  is  of  no  use,  but  it 
is  precisely  in  these  that  the  surface  washing  is  most 
effectual. 

“  It  cleanses  everything  away  and  sweeps  it  into  the 
nearest  sewer,  leaving  the  pavement  as  clean  as  it  would 
have  been  after  a  thunder  shower.  I  have  advised  the  use 
of  the  water  jet  in  all  cases  where  the  supply  would  admit 
of  its  application,  and  where  the  defective  cleansing 
required  to  be  immediately  and  efficiently  remedied ;  and 
the  sanitary  results  have  been  marked  in  some  cases,  while 
in  others,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  diminishes  the  local¬ 
izing  influences  which  tended  to  develop  the  disease. 

“  The  result  obtained  during  the  cholera,  in  my  own 


46 


mind,  is  that  no  town  water  supply  is  worthy  of  the  name, 
in  which  an  ample  allowance  is  not  made  for  this,  as  well 
as  for  the  other  sanitary  purposes,  in  addition  to  a  very 
liberal  quantity  for  purely  domestic  purposes.” 

The  trial  of  a  jet  d’eau,  with  a  hose  affixed  to  the  water 
mains,  was  recommended  the  Metropolitan  Commissioners 
of  Sewers,  and  a  number  of  careful  trials  were  made  by 
Mr.  Lovick,  who  conducted  these  experiments  with  such 
jets  as  could  be  obtained  from  the  water  company’s  mains 
in  legible  places ;  but  the  pressure  was  low  and  insuffi¬ 
cient;  nevertheless,  it  appeared  that,  taking  the  extra  quan¬ 
tity  of  water  required  at  the  expense  of  pumping,  the 
paved  surface  might  be  washed  clean  at  one-half  the  price 
for  the  scavenger’s  manual  labor  in  sweeping. 

The  effect  of  this  mode  of  cleansing  in  close  courts  and 
streets,  was  found  to  be  peculiarly  grateful  in  hot  weather. 
The  water  was  first  thrown  up  and  diffused  in  a  thin  sheet; 
it  was  then  applied  rapidly  to  cleansing  the  surface,  and 
the  side-walls  as  well  as  the  pavements.  Mr.  Lovick  states 
that  the  immediate  effect  of  the  operation  wras  to  lower  the 
temperature,  and  to  produce  a  sense  of  freshness  similar 
to  that  experienced  after  a  heavy  thunder  shower  in  hot 
weather. 

The  importance  of  water  as  an  agent  in  the  improve¬ 
ment  and  preservation  of  health  being  in  proportion  to  the 
unhealthiness  or  depressed  condition  of  districts,  its  appli¬ 
cation  to  close  courts  and  densely  populated  localities,  in 
which  a  low  sanitary  condition  must  obtain,  is  of  primary 
importance. 

The  property  of  water  as  an  absorbent,  was  rendered 
strikingly  apparent,  in  the  immediate  and  marked  effects  of 
its  application,  a  purity  and  freshness  remarkably  con¬ 
trasted  to  the  former  close  and  foul  condition  prevailing 
throughout.” 


47 


After  a  careful  examination  of  the  numerous  opinions, 
which  have  been  published,  on  the  subject  of  sewerage,  in 
controversy  or  in  the  investigations  of  the  various  commis¬ 
sioners,  I  find — 

That  in  European  cities  sewers  are  chiefly  used  to  quickly 
convey  the  excrement  and  garbage  beyond  the  urban  pre¬ 
cincts,  and  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  the  storm-water 
flowing  down  the  gutters,  and  thereby  prevent  damage  and 
inconvenience. 

That  solidity  of  execution,  economy  of  expenditures, 
sufficient  capacity,  and  efficiency  in  cleaning  itself  by  rea¬ 
son  of  the  inclination  and  the  form,  are  the  essential  requi¬ 
sites  of  a  sewer. 

That  there  should  be  as  few  main  sewers  as  possible,'  so 
as  to  concentrate  the  ordinary  flow,  and  increase  the 
power  of  scour,  but  that  the  arrangement  of  the  surface 
grades,  the  inefficient  sewers  now  in  use,  the  preservation 
of  the  public  health,  and  the  prevention  of  heavy  damages, 
which  annually  accrue,  demand  the  immediate  construction 
of  the  Liberty  street  and  Deer  Creek  sewers. 

That  the  sewer  in  Wood  street  should  be  lowered  from 
the  canal  to  Fifth  street,  and  extended  up  Baymiller  to 
Seventh  street,  thus  serving  as  the  main  sewer  for  that  por¬ 
tion  of  the  city  between  Smith  and  Baymiller  streets,  and 
from  the  canal  to  Seventh  street. 

That  for  all  other  sewers  than  large  mains,  tubular  pipes 
are  more  efficient  than  brick  drains,  by  reason  of  their 
regular  form,  their  smoothness,  which  decreases  friction, 
and  their  impermeability  to  the  soakage  of  sewerage  mat¬ 
ter  into  the  surrounding  earth. 

That  when  sewers  are  constructed,  the  streets  can  be 
more  effectually  and  more  cheaply  cleaned. 

That  in  consequence  of  the  disasters  and  pecuniary 


losses,  during  the  past  year,  the  owners  of  property  are  un¬ 
able  to  pay  for  the  construction  of  sewers  by  special  assess¬ 
ment,  and  that  the  City  Council  should  obtain  from  the 
Legislature  the  authority  to  borrow  $150,000,  to  be  expend¬ 
ed  in  constructing  the  two  main  sewers  on  Liberty  street 

and  in  Deer  Creek  valley,  reserving  the  right  to  levy  the 
legal  assessment  at  some  future  period,  when  they  who  have 
sown  the  seed  of  discord,  have  reaped  the  harvest  of  de¬ 
struction,  and  we  have  repelled  the  threatened  danger  of 
dissolution — when  the  instruments  of  war  are  converted 
into  the  implements  of  peace,  and  the  rude  sounds  of  strife 
are  succeeded  by  the  peaceful  hum  of  a  busy  population. 

Our  genial  climate,  prolific  soil,  dauntless  energy,  frugal  . 
economy  and  dextrous  handicraft,  will  soon  restore  us  to  our 
flourishing  condition  previous  to  the  commencement  of 
this  injurious  war. 

Respectfully, 

Thos.  J.  Peter,  C.  C.  E. 


